Wednesday, September 30, 2015

My mom came to visit for a few days in September and it was amazing! It's crazy to see how your relationship with parents/in laws changes after you have kids. Knowing that they love your kids as much as you do is both sweet and reassuring. I think one of my favorite things about her visits is hearing her and Danny talking/playing in the mornings when he wakes up for two reasons #1 being that due to what I'm listening to I don't have to get out of bed and can keep sleeping if I want #2 it is so sweet.

Anyways, collectively we all agree that her visits are always too short. So when she comes we always try to make the most of it. This trip was filled with eating, cooking, shopping and reorganizing. So the typical visit really. One thing that was different was the crazy amount of time I spent studying for my Real Estate exam. I was really bummed out about it, I felt like I wasted a big chunk of my precious time with her by studying so much. But thank the Lord I passed so it was all worth it.

A few of my favorite moments form her visit...

*Anytime she and Danny played, it was so sweet to hear them
*Cooking with her, I used to drag my feet at the thought of cooking but seeing as though I'm on a tight grocery bill I need all the cheap delectable dinner ideas I can get. I also think it's neat to connect with my roots more. wahoo for Mexican food!
*Shopping, but that's a given

Danny loved those conchas! I have since bought many many more

This was easily the tastiest appetizer I've ever had

Tiramisu, need I say more?

Totally wiped out in the parking lot on my way to the car, just had to document that, because it was ridiculous.

Just a picture from our morning swims

The last night she was here, we gave each other facials. As I was smoothing the cleanser on her face I studied her face, first off I couldn't believe how nice her skin is, I mean she's 62 years old and her skin is so well taken care of. Secondly, I took note of the laugh lines on her skin and wondered how many of those had been created by laughing with kids and grandkids. I've gained a new appreciation for my mom now that I have kids (pregnancy counts right?). She worked full time since I can remember, kept the house clean and cooked everyday. I consider my day a success if I showered! How many days did she get up for the day already bone tired? How many times did she come home from a long day at work ready to cook and clean? Honestly, it makes me kind of sad to think about how much she had to carry on her own. When she was here I was asking her about some of my favorite meals growing up and if we could make them while she was here. She laughed and replied that she made those meals when we had no money to buy groceries. I can't imagine the stress, she must have gone through. However I am eternally grateful that she was my mom and that my kids get to call her grandma.

I can't believe she's gone, but it's nice to know she'll be back in November to help with the baby. Also, Linda will be here end of october! yahoo!

xoxo

Cindita

PS. Today's post title was actually a movie we stumbled across on Amazon instant video. We didn't watch it but we thought it was all sorts of ridiculous!! It's called "Rubber" and here is the description...

"A homicidal car tire comes to life possessing the terrifying psychic ability to explode people's heads at will, and goes on a rampage through the desert"

What a gem.

Do I recommend it? Nah, skip that and watch something like Napoleon Dynamite. Quality movie!
Also, I had to add this picture of my veggies 2 WEEKS after that original picture I took with the bluapple. That thing is money!

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Buenas tardes amigos. Agua de Jamaica, If you've ever been to a Mexican restaurant or Mexican market you may have encountered this delicious drink. You may have wondered what it is, let me tell you. "Agua de Jamaica" is a drink/juice made from the flowers of the Jamaica plant (think hibiscus), sugar and water. Easy to make, delicious and incredibly beneficial to your health. Let me list some of the health benefits provided to you by this beverage (oh that sounded fancy)

*Vitamin C, it's loaded with it.
*Normalizes high blood pressure
*Helps purify arteries and kidneys
*Lowers high cholesterol
*Reduce blood sugar in Type II Diabetes
*May help alleviate menstrual cramps WIN! I'm no 100% sure about this one, as I am pregnant I have not had a need to alleviate menstrual cramps in a while.
*satisfies thirst haha

So now that you know some of the health benefits let me tell you how to make it.

STEP ONE: Buy Jamaica blossoms from a Mexican market. You could probably find them at Whole Foods or some other place, but save yourself the trouble and money. You will find them cheaper and more abundant at a Mexican market. They will look something like this...

Grab a bag and shovel some of that goodness into it. You will be charged price/lb.

STEP TWO: Take those blossoms home and boil them. How much will you need to boil you ask? As much or as little as you like. I usually take a handful and boil that. It only needs to boil, you don't need to have it boil for a certain amount of minutes nada, just boil them.

STEP THREE: Let it cool down then pour into your pitcher using a strainer

STEP FOUR: Add water and sugar as desired. I personally add quite a bit of sugar. I never like aqua de jamaica unless I make it. I suspect it's because I sweeten it so much and usually Mexican markets won't sweeten it as much. Water, you an add as little or as much as you want. The more you add the more diluted it will be and taste. Be sure to add ice. Agua de Jamaica always tastes better with lots of ice.

There you have it my friends, go out into the world and make yourself some Agua de jamaica. WORD OF WARNING THIS WILL STAIN YOUR CLOTHES, drink responsibly ;)

PS. Today's post title was brought to you by Hobby from the Sasquatch Gang. You may have recognized him from the LDS version of Pride and Prejudice as Brother Collins. He's hilarious. I can't watch this clip without busting up. Happy laughs

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

I can't believe that week 32 has come and gone! This pregnancy is flying by, I feel a little guilty because I feel like I should be enjoying it more! But on the other hand I'm so ready to have this little guy out that I can't wait for Nov. 7! Mixed emotions are my specialty.

In my last pregnancy I did a terrible job of taking updated pictures of my baby bump, this pregnancy didn't go too well either. However, I came across these darling pregnancy trackers on Instagram and I was smitten! I contacted the shop owner and she sent me a package of trackers for my last trimester! They arrived quickly and were wrapped with care. They are high quality and already in order! Had I known about her shop in my early pregnancy I would have bought them! I love the fonts she uses and the simple black and white. However, my favorite part of the sign is towards the bottom where it tells you what size the baby is. Truly they are fantastic, and make tracking your pregnancy that much more fun! You can find them here :)

Full disclosure, I have been breaking my brain trying to get creative "bump" shots! Surprisingly, Wyatt has an eye for these things and has taken great pictures. He's a champ, he hates taking them. I only get a certain amount of time before he's done (around 5 minutes). I often feel like a contestant from America's Next Top Model who is trying desperately to get the right shot with Yu Tsai critically yelling at them from the sidelines. Though, it is a tad fun ;)

xoxo,

Cindita

PS. Today's post title was brought to you by aunt Bethany on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I haven't been a big fan of "Christmas" movies and poor Wyatt has spent the better part of our marriage trying to get me into the spirit. I finally broke down this past year and watched this movie, it is hilarious. There were so many good moments to pick from but aunt Bethany truly cracked me up.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

I made this video for Wyatt a while ago, I thought it would be neat to put it on here. He's an outstanding father and I can't wait to see him with a newborn again! I swear, men holding babies makes them ten times more attractive.

Ps. Post title brought to you by the song in the video "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Hello! Guess what? My mom is in town! Wahoo!! She's pretty neat, she comes and spoils us with delicious food and she plays with Danny so I can overeat and nap on the couch ;) I am especially grateful for her visit this time around because she tends Danny while I study for my Real Estate exam. Guys, I'm wigging out, I'm worried I won't pass... but I guess I can always take it again. I'd rather not, but whatevs we shall see how I do. Cross your fingers for me!

I decided that this time around I would take advantage of her being with me and learn to cook some awesome (cheap) Mexican meals! Today I'm posting about my favorite comfort food, chorizo con queso. Is it healthy? no. Is it any good? mouthwatering :).

Chorizo con queso (Almaraz style)

Ingredients:

Chorizo (I should mention that chorizo is a type of pork sausage usually made with native chili peppers) (delicious, it makes everything taste better)

Both of these ingredients are easily found at any hispanic market (e.g. Rancho Market)

I'm not specifying how much you will need of each ingredient. This, my friend, is entirely up to you. You will want to to have enough to shred some of each into a oven safe dish. Make sure to add more queso than chorizo.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2. Shred your queso and chorizo and combine them into a oven safe dish. Don't pick a dish that's too big. A ramekin would be perfect for this. I used cazuelitas (traditional clay cookware)

3. Once you have the two ingredients combined in your cookware stick them in the oven. Turn the oven light on as you will have to watch for when the queso starts melting.

4. Once the cheese has started to melt, take a fork and mix the ingredients well

5. Once you've mixed them, go ahead and give them a few more minutes to fully melt into a mixture of pure bliss and fat. (this is a good time to warm up some tortillas)

6. Suddenly, you'll smell an aroma that is too enticing to ignore you look over and realize that the queso is indeed fully melted and bubbling. Take them out of the oven and let them cool down for a few minutes.

Should look something like this ^^^^^^

Finally sit down, slather that deliciousness onto a tortilla and add some salsa. Enjoy your trip to heaven my friends. You are welcome.

xoxo

Cindita

PS. Because I overeat 100% of the time my mom cooks this, I decide I would add a clip that was from the movie Heavyweights. If you haven't seen it, watch it, it's hilarious.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

So I did yet another DIY. I'm not sure why I even do them! I get super frustrated about halfway through and want to give up 80% of the time, but here I am suffering away doing more of them! But I'm happy to report that this one was thankfully super easy. *Happy hands emoji*

I first saw the idea on pinterest, the girl who had done it, did it with a mere 4$, mine was closer to 35$... ba hum bug. Anyways, first I looked for the frame. Round frames are surprisingly very difficult to find. Especially round ones. Hobby Lobby sells round unfinished frames for 40$ ouch.... But they were 50% off when I got mine! After I found the frame I had to buy the spray paint to make it gold. The spray paints don't go on sale very often so I used the 40% coupon. I probably could have found it cheaper at Home Depot, but ain't nobody got time to go to two stores with a toddler.

After I had the frame and spray painted it I cut my letter out using cardboard, I needed the frame first to know how big to make the A. Wasn't a perfect A, but I figured the flowers would help cover it up.

After I cut out the A I needed to superglue a paper clip to the back of it, so I'd have some way to hang it when it was all said and done. I honestly had no Idea how I was going to hang it, but my friend Erin (a DIY guru) came up with the idea! Thank you Erin!

Then came the cutting flowers and supergluing them onto the letter. We decided that we would superglue the leaves onto the letter to make sure we didn't have any cardboard peeking out. Afterwards we cut the flowers and decided where we would put them, once we mapped out where they were going to lay on the letter we superglued them.

After that, it was done! Wahoo! The materials for this DIY were sitting in my pantry for weeks. I was glad to get that space back. I thought I'd put it above my bed but it looked tacky, so I hung it in my room on one of the walls. It'll probably move again at some point, but for right now it looks good!

xoxo

Cindita

PS. Today's post title was brought to you by Newsies, one of my favorite movies. I think it's a fantastic musical and I can't get over 18 year old Christian Bale, just a baby! His accent was on point! As was his dancing and his singing. More than anything, I love movies that inspire you. Everyone loves an underdog right? This song in particularly gave me goosebumps when I watched the movie for the first time.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty. For the past few months I have been trying (and failing) to stick to a grocery budget. One thing that kills me is produce, it's expensive! I am well aware that it could be more expensive and am eternally grateful it is not. However, for our "fresh out of graduate school" budget, produce seems like a luxury we just shouldn't be buying.

I found the best bang for my buck, with produce, at a store called Ranch Market. Not to be confused with Rancho Market. I'm being completely serious when I say it's the best, examples being 25 cents for cantaloupe, 1$ for watermelon (not per pound, the entire thing), 1.50$ for a large container of raspberries. I could go on, this store is legit. However a large drawback to these amazing prices is the shelf life of the produce. They go bad FAST. The first time I shopped there I bought tomatoes that grew mold four days after I brought them home. Granted, they were crazy cheap, but still four days?! If you are shopping everyday for produce you will use within two days, this is your store. But really aint nobody got time for that.

I wanted to pay low prices for produce and have it last longer! I took to the internet to see what was on the market and Blueapple came up in my search. I jumped on Amazon and sure enough, it had fantastic reviews. However, it was $14.28! That's expensive for something I'm looking to test out. Then I found it at Bed Bath and Beyond for $9.99, win! Throw in their 20% off coupon and you have a beautiful thing going on.

So once you've brought it home you'll notice, they aren't very big. Which I thought was good because I have the worlds smallest fridge and need all the space I can get. It's a plastic apple, no bigger than a golfball. When you open it, you see this little packet. This is the filter you need to change out once every three months. Though I have a friend who says she's gone a year before changing hers out. (she and her husband swear by Blueapple)

I threw it in with my veggies and put it in the crisper

A fantastic picture, if I may say so myself...

A week later (September 4) here is what I was left with

Cucumbers go fast at my house, so they're gone, but look at the rest of them! Granted that poor fellow in the bottom left hand corner had to be thrown out. RIP. But look! No mold! Wahoo! Here is another picture from Today (september 8)

Guys this is 11 days after I bought these! At RANCH MARKET. NO MOLD! Wahoo! I am a believer! (and a little bit of a Belieber too) My stamp of approval goes to Blueapple, I'm excited to buy all sorts of nice produce and have it actually last a week!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

My heart is full today! The roaring in my ear has finally come to an end and I feel like I have been given a huge blessing! I know that in the past when my ear would roar it would always go away. But honestly when it's happening I feel like I'll never hear normally again, it's a dreadful feeling. I pray harder in those days than I do any other days, though I'm proud to admit that I've been doing pretty good with prayer and scripture study! (A goal I had made earlier this year) We're also as a family doing well in scriptures and prayers. All the same, my days spent in misery were still horrific. There was one specific day were even though the roaring doubled in volume I felt strengthened by the Lord. Sort of like in the B.O.M where he strengthens the people of Alma instead of delivering them from bondage. My burden wasn't taken away but I was stronger and more able to handle it.

I am so happy and grateful it's over though. Everytime I experience that I realize how beautiful and wonderful my life is. Regardless of anything else going on (paying off debt, student loans). I realize how small my trials are in the scheme of things.

My R.E. Class is going well, I have to admit that I like being in school again, sort of. The four and a half hours is hard to sit through. The Saturday Sunday all day classes are the worst. But I finished the last one yesterday!!! Wahoo! So I have this week and Saturday morning class then I'm DONE! I only hope I can pass the test!!

Danny's been so cute lately, it's bittersweet to watch him get big. Naturally he'll always be my baby.

I thought I should write down a quick walk down memory lane Wyatt and I took yesterday. Back to Christmas and Christmas Eve. Which you know were extremely difficult for me. We remembered that Wyatt originally had to work Christmas Eve (when the roaring in my ear started). It was depressing to think that not only would Danny and I be alone Christmas Eve, but also left without transportation. On top of it all I had this horrible roaring in my ear and my ears were full of pressure. But as he left the apartment to go to work he realized he had a flat tire, which was frustrating because the last two months had been filled with small misfortunes like this. It was crushing! However, because of his flat tire he was told not to worry about coming to work!!! We were able to spend Christmas Eve with him and get out and have fun! Instead of spending a day full of crying, I was blessed to be strengthened by Wyatt and distracted by family time. I am a firm believer in thinking that flat tire was a blessing from above.

That's all!

Cindita!

PS. Today's post title is brought to you by an ee card!

PS. I do not own any of these images. The image at the post header can be found here

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